Ferrovan Oy is pleased to announce an arrangement of EUR 7,5 million funding for the detailed design phase and preparatory construction activities of its vanadium plant project. The majority lender of the convertible loan is the state-owned Finnish Minerals Group (FMG), established to develop the Finnish battery and mining ecosystem. FMG operates as a long-term strategic owner of its battery and mining cluster holdings, manages the mining and battery investment programme and develops battery value chain initiatives. Ferrovan’s major shareholders and financiers also took part in the financing round.

Ferrovan’s vanadium project involves the construction of a processing plant at the port of Raahe. The plant will use steel industry slags from Sweden and Finland as raw material and produce ferrovanadium and high purity steel, leaving a slag which can be used in the construction and cement industries. Construction works are estimated to start by the end of 2018 and the plant taken into operation by the end of 2020. The plant will offer ca. 150 permanent jobs once in operation.

”Ferrovan is an extremely interesting recycling project where vanadium will be produced from industrial slag. Ferrovan is a great example illustrating the possibilities to utilize existing slag material and turn it into a valuable product. It also shows that mining industry evolves to new forms where excavated primary ore is not the only possible feed material to metals production”, says Matti Hietanen, CEO of Finnish Minerals Group.

”We are very proud to be an integral part of Finnish battery and mining cluster. This strong support from state-owned FMG clearly demonstrates the importance of circular economy in battery value chain developments”, comments Jukka Pitkäjärvi, CEO of Ferrovan Oy.